League Information
Community Leaders:
Margaret Ahrens
Teresa Stambaugh
Phone:
Website:
League ID:
KS004
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Stories From Around the State
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News
League of Kansas partners to train judicial nominating commissioners
Date: March 25, 2011
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Event: Training
Partners: Kansas Office of Judicial Administration; American Judicature Society
Trust-based ties with the Office of Judicial Administration allowed the League of Women Voters of Kansas to co-sponsor a day-long training for 60 judicial nominating commissioners from across the state. The effort was carried out by three entities, the American Judicature Society (AJS), the League of Women Voters, and the Office of Judicial Administration. Rachel Caufield (AJS) led the discussion, which focused on best practices for nominating commissions, with a particular focus on the impact of diversity on all stages in the judicial selection process.State: -
News
League of Kansas holds press conference in Topeka to share education campaign successes
Date: March 24, 2011
Location: Dillon House, Topeka, Kansas
Event: Press conference
Partners: Kansas Office of Judicial Administration
The League of Women Voters of Kansas held a press conference in Topeka to share the results of the ongoing education campaign. The event featured Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss as keynote speaker (the text of his remarks is now available online), as well as Professor Jeffrey Jackson of Washburn University, who presented the results of his research on gender diversity on the Kansas bench.
The conference was covered by local television stations WIBW and KTKA.State: -
News
League of Kansas sponsors study on gender diversity in the state courts
In January 2011, Professor Jeffrey Jackson of Washburn University School of Law completed a comprehensive gender diversity study of Kansas, commissioned by the League of Women Voters of Kansas, which is now available on the Social Science Research Network.Professor Jackson’s research showed that the League’s campaign had been most effective at the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals level, with both courts only recently becoming reasonably gender-diverse. While many district courts had also attained reasonable gender diversity, the study showed where there is work left to be done: districts where judges are elected and small districts represented by three or fewer judges were most likely to still be non-representative. Professor Jackson’s findings led him to conclude that, statistically, commission-based selection districts provide better opportunity for female judges to be selected in Kansas.
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News
League of Salina Sponsors High School Research Project on Judicial Diversity Roots
Date: January 12, 2011
Location: Salina Public Library’s Community Learning Center, Salina, Kansas
Partners: Salina Central High School
Funded by the League of Women Voters of Salina, four Advanced Placement U.S. History high school students at Salina Central High School did extracurricular research on the history of judicial diversity and the civil rights movement at the Eisenhower Library, under the guidance of Salina Central teacher Deidre Hoff. The students found that Eisenhower's decision to appoint more women and minorities to the federal bench helped lay the foundation for court rulings that expanded civil rights and dismantled segregation. They presented the result of their research at the event (via Powerpoint presentations).
The program was covered in the Salina Journal.State: -
News Clips
Karen Arnold-Burger Named to Kansas Court of Appeals (Kansas: Topeka Capital-Journal)
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News Clips
Election of Judges Proposal Defeated in Atchinson and Leavenworth Counties (Kansas: Leavenworth Times)
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News Clips
Voters retain all 4 Kansas Supreme Court Justices (Kansas: The Wichita Eagle)
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News Clips
Nancy Caplinger Appointed to Kansas Supreme Court (Kansas: Topeka Capital-Journal)
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News
League of Topeka/Shawnee County Holds Meeting with Kansas Bar Association
Date: October 28, 2010
Location: Kansas Bar Association Offices, Topeka, Kansas
Partners: Washburn University, Kansas Bar Association; Women Attorneys Association
Professor Jeffrey Jackson of Washburn University and Gwen Elliott of the League of Women Voters of Topeka addressed the Kansas Bar Association on the League’s education campaign.
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News
League of Great Bend Meets with Judge Hannalore Kitts
Date: October 16, 2010
Location: Great Bend High School, Great Bend, Kansas
Partners: Great Bend High School
The League of Women Voters of Great Bend had a meeting with Judge Hannalore Kitts of the 20th Judicial District (Great Bend), who discussed the challenges of being a female in an elected district. Judge Kitts spoke about how she has to spend a lot of money to run, can't really campaign, and can't talk about why she ruled as she did even when untruthful publicity is given.
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